He yielded.

He had at hand a ready tool and the cleverest aid in Charles Miste, who actually carried the money, but for some reason--possibly because he was unable to forge the necessary signatures--could not obtain the cash for the drafts without the Vicomte's assistance.

Unconsciously, I repeatedly prevented their meeting, and thus frustrated the design." All the while Madame sat and looked down into the valley.

Her self-command was infinite, for she must have had a thousand questions to ask.
"It was, I think, my patron's intention to go to the New World with his great wealth and there begin life afresh--this, however, is one of the details that must ever remain incomprehensible.

Possibly when the temptation gripped him he ceased to reflect at all--else he must assuredly have recognised all that he was sacrificing for the mere possession of money that he could never live to spend.